1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stage apparatus for substantially linearly moving a structural component, that supports an element, e.g., an image pickup device or the like, in two orthogonal directions in a plane, and a camera shake correction apparatus using such a stage apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A known stage apparatus used as a camera shake correction apparatus in which a movable stage plate is substantially linearly moved in two orthogonal directions in a plane is described in, for example, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2001-215543.
Such a known stage apparatus (shake correction apparatus) provided in a digital camera is provided with a stationary support member, a movable stage plate, an image pickup device, a magnetic force generator, an X-axis direction drive coil and a Y-axis direction drive coil. The stationary support member is fixed to a camera body. The movable stage plate is supported by the stationary support member to be movable relative to the stationary support member in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of the camera. The image pickup device is fixed to a front surface of the movable stage plate. The magnetic force generator is integral with the stationary support member. The X-axis direction drive coil and the Y-axis direction drive coil are mounted on the movable stage plate and produce a driving force in the specific X-axis direction and a driving force in the Y-axis direction perpendicular to the X-axis direction by receiving magnetic forces generated by the magnetic force generator.
Upon the occurrence of camera shake, a current flows through each of the X-axis direction drive coil and the Y-axis direction drive coil, which causes the movable stage plate to move in the X-axis and Y-axis directions to counteract (correct) image shake due to vibrations such as hand shake.
In the Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2001-215543, since both the X-axis direction drive coil and the Y-axis direction drive coil are fixed to the front face of the movable stage plate, the total thickness of any one of the drive coils and a portion of the movable stage plate to which the drive coils are fixed in the forward/rearward direction is large.
In the case where the length of the driven element (e.g., a lens element or an image pickup device which is driven to counteract image shake) in the optical axis direction is relatively large, the aforementioned total thickness is negligible. However, due to advancements in the reduction in thickness of cameras in recent years, such a total thickness has become a considerable problem.
Moreover, in the case where an image pickup device is driven to counteract image shake, this total thickness becomes more considerable because the image pickup device is thinner in an optical axis direction than an optical lens element and generally flatter.